Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics from his base in Moscow.
Rossia Segodnya, the Russian state media giant headed by controversial pro-Kremlin TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, is reportedly expanding its reach with local-language news websites and radio programming across the world.
Some Ukrainians are still prepared to sell their votes -- even in the wake of the Euromaidan uprising against corruption and sleaze. But the price tag has spiked significantly amid a state crackdown on the practice.
The central botanical garden in Ukraine's capital is selling off scores of exotic plants on the cheap after it closed various greenhouses amid looming central-heating woes and the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.
For eight months the activists of Ukraine's Euromaidan have been frustrated with the slow pace of reform. Now they're taking matters into their own hands.
It started as something of an insult but turned into a badge of pride. Meet Ukraine's "cyborgs."
He's Hercules! Children sing his praises. He's even on your clothes! How are Russians marking Vladimir Putin's birthday? RFE/RL takes a look.
Russia is preparing to dedicate a special calendar day to commemorate the "little green men" who helped seize the Crimean peninsula. The proposed date -- October 7 -- also just happens to be President Vladimir Putin’s birthday.
With Ukraine’s post-Euromaidan purge of corrupt officials still yet to be signed into law, impatient activists are throwing unpopular officials into trash containers in a sometimes violent practice popularized on social networks as the "Trash-Bucket Challenge."
The Russian State Duma has approved legislation restricting foreign ownership of media outlets. RFE/RL visited the newsroom of the Western-owned daily newspaper "Vedomosti" to gauge journalists' reactions.
In Moscow, a new “CIS” grocery store selling goods from Russia and former Soviet republics is thriving amid food sanctions and a patriotic fervor sweeping the country.
A radical Orthodox activist says God is inside Vladimir Putin, a claim that lies at the more extreme end of an often surreal grassroots personality cult surrounding the Russian leader.
Nadezhda Guriyeva watched two of her children die in the 2004 Beslan school terrorist attack. Ten years later, as with many touched by the tragedy, a new life remains elusive for Guriyeva.
A senior Russian lawmaker has called on the government to limit cinema showings of foreign films that "demonize" Russia and urged domestic filmmakers to nurture the image of the positive Russian "patriot."
Ever since a prankster adorned a skyscraper in downtown Moscow in Ukraine's national colors, blue and yellow have been popping up all over the Russian Internet -- raised suspicions over all things yellow and blue in the capital.
Many Muscovites are scratching their heads -- and gritting their teeth -- over a decision by Russia's consumer watchdog to temporarily close at least three McDonald's restaurants in the capital. Among them is the first-ever McDonald's in Moscow, the iconic restaurant on Pushkin Square, which first opened 25 years ago.
When Ramzan Kadyrov misplaces his cell phone, there's hell to pay. After the Chechen strongman reportedly lost his mobile at a museum opening, police are said to have held hundreds of people in an effort to locate it.
Russian rock musician Andrei Makarevich performed a concert for displaced children in eastern Ukraine last week. Now Russian lawmakers want to punish him for "treachery."
The ultra-nationalist newspaper "Zavtra" has been on the margins of Russian political life for decades. But with the Ukraine conflict, it has come out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
A Russian daily has given foreign migrants a sneak peek into the history and civics test they will have to pass next year if they hope to take on menial jobs like cleaning streets.
Russia has banned food imports from the West in tit-for-tat sanctions -- and many Muscovites appear resigned to eating domestic, though sophisticates are not pleased.
Load more
